Welcome to the third installment of The 30 Minute Series. This is the Leg Routine and I have to admit it will be one of the hardest leg routines you’ve ever completed.
Check out the other routines in this 30 minute series:
- 30 Minute Series: Arm Routine
- 30 Minute Series: Shoulder Routine
- 30 Minute Series: Back Routine
- 30 Minute Series: Chest Routine
But with difficulty in completing the routine comes amazing changes in your physique; toning up your legs and thighs and tightening up that butt is in store for you.
On a more serious note, training legs is painful and can be time-consuming if you want to properly train legs, right? Wrong. If you follow this leg routine consistently, the muscle soreness will go from painful to a dull soreness. The real reason you are so sore after leg training is because you’ve probably skipped a week or three in between training them… that’s just a recipe for pain.
Note, I’m not trying to say there is some magical formula for toning up your legs and building some sexy muscle… I am saying that with proper exercise choice and execution you can speed up progress and make some nice changes without spending hours in the gym.
Generally there are a few reasons why someone isn’t making the progress they want:
- Poor exercise choices
- Not pushing yourself hard enough
- Too much cardio
- Not enough food (yes you need to eat enough to lose fat and build muscle!)
- Not enough recovery
What about cardio?
Hours upon hours of cardio will not get you where you want to be.
There are two ways you can go about doing cardio in the gym:
- High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – HIIT training is great for fat loss and improves your anaerobic capacity; this helps with your strength and power. An easy to follow sample HIIT circuit would be to run/sprint for 30 seconds, rest for 1 minute and repeat for 15 minutes. That’s right, 15 minutes of cardio and leave.
- Low Intensity Steady State (LISS) – This is the cardio that most people do at the gym; slodge around for hour(s) on the treadmill walking. Do LISS in a 20 minute interval. Push yourself harder than you normally would and get that heart rate up.
Both are great and any activity is highly recommended. The trick to these workouts is to be the most effective with your work and get out of the gym to enjoy life and recover.
30 Minute Series: Leg Routine
Push yourself hard and know that what you are doing is going to get you the results. Making the best of each set is important making progress and you need to focus on adding more weight each week; doing the same weight each week will get you nowhere.
| 30 Minute Series: Legs | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Leg Press | 3 | 12 |
| Goblet Squats | 2 | 15 |
| Stiff Leg Deadlifts | 2 | 15 |
| Walking Lunges | 3 | 20 |
| Standing Calf Raises | 4 | 15 |
| Leg Curls | 2 | 20 |
| Leg Extensions | 2 | 20 |
Workout Tips
- Strive for progression – Every time you step into the gym, strive to lift heavier or more weight. I promise you won’t get “bulky”
- Get in and get out – Just like the title says, this routine shouldn’t more than ~30 minutes or 45-50 with cardio. The goal is to get in and get out; you will thank me later.
